Maggie's Farm

You don't have to spoil your beer buzz with worry about the climate. Beer bubbles are carbon-neutral! The carbon was fixed by plants (primarily barley and hops) using solar energy. Did you know that beer was an essential ingredient in building the great pyramids of Egypt?

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{We've been wondering "What is Climate Change?", but the link doesn't seem to be directed to the answer.}

BillH: By your reasoning, burning fossil fuels, bovine flatulence etc. etc. also are carbon neutral, i.e. the carbon was fixed by plants using solar energy.

Fossil fuels are carbon that has accumulated over geological time periods. Releasing it into the atmosphere increases atmospheric CO2. Consuming plants, such as beer, merely recycles the same CO2, and doesn't increase atmospheric CO2.

BillH: Consuming plants, such as beer, merely recycles the same CO2, and doesn't increase atmospheric CO2[i]; however, instead of making beer, throwing the hops and barley into marshes, where they would become fossilized hydrocarbons, would reduce nasty atmospheric CO2 in the long run.

You could just bury your beer in the backyard, but that would be a real waste.

Carbon sequestration is a possible strategy, however, tossing good barley and hops into marshes is probably not the best process. People have to consume food in one form or another.

Lots of fertile material.


Of course they do.


Well, neither party actually held a consistent majority. The Mensheviks lost an early vote over party structure, hence, minority.


An excellent example of manipulating definitions. Nazis were known as right wing at the time, generations have considered them right wing. The use has been consistent on both sides of the Atlantic, by laypersons and by scholars. The meaning of the left-right dichotomy hasn't changed much over time, and the application to modern politics tracks closely to how it has been used historically.


Most people in the U.S. don't identify as liberal, even if they hold views on the left end of the political spectrum. In any case, this conflates liberalism with statism. Liberals generally want government regulation of economic issues, but limited regulation of the social sphere; while conservatives generally want regulation of the social sphere, but limited regulation of economic issues. This is consistent with the liberal goal that balances equality and liberty, and the conservative advocacy of meritocracy and preservation of traditional institutions.


Europeans generally have larger and more powerful government sectors than the U.S.

Even when in power, liberals have limited power in the U.S. due to the structure of the Senate. A few, small, conservative states can filibuster most liberal legislation. Voters in Wyoming have 66x the power in the Senate as voters in California.


The science of climate change is substantial and well-supported. This distinguishes ordinary conservatism, which generally defers to scholarship, with right wing ideologues, who want to undo modernity.


DDT was never banned for vector control, only for blanket use in agriculture, which overuse led not only to destruction of habitat, but the evolution of resistance in mosquitoes, rendering DDT ineffective.


That's more a matter of the general economic conditions. Inflation-adjusted minimum wages were higher during the Clinton Administration, but unemployment was low.


Ignores counterarguments. Each energy source has positives and negatives, including environmental concerns. Simply waving away objections doesn't mean they aren't legitimate. That's why science is important, along with an understanding of the downsides, but the gradual degradation of the environment, as well as the effects of rare disasters.


Not all majority-Muslim countries have the same culture.


Oversimplification. Families have inevitably changed due to modernity.


Topped off with a dose of chauvinism.

Well, that's false on its face. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was formed in 1988.

Global warming is the increase in the Earth's mean surface temperature. Climate change refers to changes in weather patterns. The terms mean different things, and both terms have been used for decades.

Presidential Proclamation -- Earth Day, 2013: Last year, we launched a global initiative to cut short-lived climate pollutants that contribute to global warming.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/04/20/presidential-proclamation-earth-day-2013